Psalm 145
After
the woman at the bank finished sharing her hopeless lament with me, I told her about my experiences at the ELCA
National Youth Gathering last week. I
described my experience of 30,000 youth, praising God, praying, learning and,
serving together. To me, that was a
powerful sign of the truth the Psalmist celebrates. Sadly, I’m not sure she could see it.
How could we not?
The other day, I got into a discussion with a woman at a bank about the state of the world. (When you dress in clergy clothes, you tend to get into those conversations…) She lamented the state of things. She never got specific, but she went on and on about how the world was in worse condition than it ever has been. Society, she said, is coming apart at the seams. Things seem out of control. People just don’t seem to care anymore. She said she hoped that Jesus returned soon, because, in her opinion, the world as it stands is hopeless.
The next day, in a bible study, another woman described a
conversation she had with a man who said he no longer believed in God because
of the state of the world. “How can you
believe in a God of love when the world is such a mess?” He asked her.
“How can you not?” The woman had responded.
In a way, I think she managed to sum up Psalm 145 in one
line. It is a Psalm of unreserved praise
for the Lord who is said to be
gracious, merciful, and abounding in steadfast love. The Psalmist says God lifts us up when we fall,
provides us with food and satisfies our desires. God is celebrated as just and compassionate
and good to all. It’s quite a statement
when laid over and against the history of God’s people. The scriptures tell us story after story of
the struggles of Israel and Judah. The
prophets decry the injustice and oppression they see in the world. With all they went through, how could the
people of Israel and Judah continue to believe and confess in a God of
steadfast love and compassion?
How could they not?
Was the writer of Psalm 145 just ignoring the harsh
realities of life? I don’t think
so. Instead, I think the Psalmist is
lifting up a vision of God’s Reign, of God’s hope for God’s creation, of a
future God is always preparing for God’s people that is so powerful as to be
present even in the midst of the suffering and pain of a broken world.
It’s the very same
vision that Jesus embodied and lived. Jesus spoke regularly about the Reign of
God. It was the core of his
message. In him, the Kingdom of
compassion, mercy, grace and love the Psalmist envisions broke into the
world. Jesus’ life, death and
resurrection reflected it’s truth and it’s power. In Jesus, we see how life – God’s life – is
always more powerful than pain, or suffering, or injustice, or violence or even
death itself. Jesus invites us to
participate in this Reign of God. Jesus
invites us to live in the power and praise of God’s compassion, mercy and
grace. Jesus invites us to live out of
the Psalmist’s vision of a world where all are lifted up, where all are fed and
cared for, and where justice and compassion reign. In a world of suffering and sorrow like ours, how could we not?
After
the woman at the bank finished sharing her hopeless lament with me, I told her about my experiences at the ELCA
National Youth Gathering last week. I
described my experience of 30,000 youth, praising God, praying, learning and,
serving together. To me, that was a
powerful sign of the truth the Psalmist celebrates. Sadly, I’m not sure she could see it.
It is easy, I think, for the state of the world and the
struggles of the people we are called to serve to get us down, overwhelm us
with their magnitude and crush us with hopelessness and doubt. But the Psalmist’s words remind us that God is
active and present in our world, even if we cannot always see that clearly, and
call us to put our faith and our trust in the promise of that presence.
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